Ambre Energy asks permit delay

Ambre Energy, the Australian company proposing to build a coal export terminal in Boardman, has requested another permit delay from the state of Oregon.

It’s a signal that no major decisions should be expected about the controversial project before at least the latter half of 2014.

The Department of State Lands had been set to make a decision by April 30 on a permit that would allow Ambre to build a dock in the Columbia River at Boardman for its project, which could send 8.8 million tons of coal annually to Asia. Trains would unload coal at Boardman and it would then move by barge down the Columbia River to Port Westward, near Clatskanie.

But in a March 31 letter, Ambre asked for the decision to be delayed until 30 days after federal agencies reviewing the project release key documents that the state is seeking. The company doesn’t expect those to be out until the second half of the year.

“The project will provide the requested documents as soon as they become available,” Ambre spokeswoman Liz Fuller said in a statement. “We are fully committed to meeting all permitting standards.”

The Department of State Lands permit, one of several pending about the coal project, has been delayed six times since Ambre first filed for the permit in early 2012. Ambre and the state must both agree to the extensions.

Ambre received permits in February from the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality. But still needs state and federal permits, as well as a new DEQ approval.